FORT MEADE, Md. — A study shows that basic training has become drastically easier in the years since you attended boot camp, resulting in a crop of new service members who are younger, less mature, and generally less disciplined than older, more experienced veterans.
The Rand Corporation polled thousands of service members across all four branches over several years. The survey determined that your training cycle was, “hands down, the last hard year of basic training,” according to lead researcher Devon Douglass.
Pointing to anecdotal, quantitative, and statistical evidence collected by the survey, Douglass says that boot camp in the Marine Corps became at least three times simpler, while the Army began implementing “Stress Cards,” resulting in basic training becoming up to five times less demanding. Similar studies of the Navy show that it, too, is currently “about half as tough” as it used to be.
“Only the Air Force showed mixed results,” reports Douglass, who suggests that, while physical training and disciplinary standards appear to have dropped, most respondents to the survey did confess, “at least I never had to blow my Training Instructors in San Antonio.”
